


Song of the heart

by fish_wifey



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Made For Each Other, Mystery, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythology - Freeform, Sexual Content, Siren Saeko, Sirens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-13 06:36:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21239786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fish_wifey/pseuds/fish_wifey
Summary: On a family vacation, strange things happen to Akiteru.Saeko swam a long way from home, but she doesn't entice her chosen prey like she usually would.





	Song of the heart

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!!! (*´∀`*) When I had to pick between pairings and creatures, akisae / siren was the first and easiest pick. I love mer-people and mystery. I made up some things on my own without researching sirens too much（*/∇＼*）
> 
> I managed some ero-content in the final part but not super much (〃▽〃)
> 
> Really hope my giftee and whoever reads this will like it. It's my first akisae. I think I was better able to write Akiteru than Saeko, but both were somewhat hard for me??

### Part 1

The waves take him. Akiteru rolls around, sense of direction lost to panic. The strap connecting his ankle to his board through an elastic band isn’t there. He can’t see his board either. Just waves and darkness, rocks and distorted air. Under water, Akiteru attempts to swim, to find a hold of his body and go up.

A heaviness won’t let him. A sound enters his ears, and his vision darkens. What he’s learned of the dangers and happenings of losing air under water dissipates. A calm washes over him, as water on all sides presses him downwards. Akiteru feels the last of breath leave, and as water floods his system, he thinks of his family.

When he thinks he’s dying, the sky opens up in front of him. 

~

~

The sun sets in the distance. Gentle waves roll onto the beach, water retracting back towards the sea as soon as it comes. To Akiteru’s left and right, a beach stretches. A foreign one to him. The sand below him is extremely soft, softer than what he remembers from the beach which he’s been frequenting this summer vacation. Akiteru’s hands close around the soft sand below him, raising his right and letting it fall from his fist. His body too, feels nice and warm. There’s no sense of water on him, nor the cool sensation from exiting the sea.

He gets up slowly, careful to not move too fast. His breath catches as he looks around. Behind him are palms, trees, bushes. Green leaves move with the gentle breeze. He can’t see anyone else. There are no wooden structures, no boats, nothing. Around him is just beach, the sea, privacy only an uninhabited island can provide. Breath hitches in his throat, as disorientation from the sea comes over him again, now that he’s on unknown land.

And then he hears the sound again, words. 

“A song…” Following its pull, his eyes glance to the seas. There are no gentle waves forthcoming, an immediate silence falling over it. The waves have disappeared. No tide comes. Confused, Akiteru tries to get up, only to find his legs stuck together.

“What the..?” Before his eyes, his legs seam together, near invisible stickiness building up. His mouth opens in horror, and then a dull pain hits him from behind. 

~

~

When Akiteru awakes, his surroundings have changed again. He’s in a moving vehicle, as the bumps of the road move below him. Bumps he remembers, as his conscious catches up to him. Groaning, Akiteru sits up, hearing tuts from his right. Sitting behind the driver's seat, Akiteru watches his younger brother Kei turn the wheel and bring the car to a stop.

“How are you feeling?”

It was a heavy question asked in a light tone. Akiteru blinks, at once aware of where he is. The vacation house welcomes them with a warm greeting of lit rooms and lanterns hanging on the outside walls. Feeling more secure and a 100% confused, Akiteru sits up right behind Kei’s seat. Looking down, his legs appear normal. He’s also fully dressed. Feeling the back of his head, there’s no evidence of an attack, and no pain comes when he pushes his fingers against his skin.

“I think I am alright,” Akiteru says, his hand now going to open the door.

“Is that so… Could you then explain to me why I found you unconscious on the beach in the middle of the night, your wetsuit all ripped to shreds? Not a bruise on you. Your bag neatly beside you. All your things set there as if someone else put it next to you. And your phone filled with 21 of my missed calls because you didn’t come back home at the agreed time 5 hours ago.” Kei holds the car keys in his hand after he turned it from the ignition. 

Akiteru grips the door handle tight. Panic rises in his throat. 

“H-how late is it?”

“Past 10 p.m. Mom was worried,” Kei says, opening his own door and leaving first. Akiteru has a hard time to follow suit. He promised his father, and Kei to be home by 5 p.m. and prepare a surprise birthday dinner for their mom. Heaviness of a different kind settles between his ribcage. Kei, when he seems calm and undetached, can carry deep emotions which he keeps to himself. 

Picking up his backpack, Akiteru opens the door. Catching up to Kei in a couple of fast steps, Akiteru tries to apologize. His legs feel wobbly when he tries. Looking back to the car, he wonders how Kei had been able to haul him into the back of the car. Akiteru’s surfboard is on top of the car.

“Kei, hey… I am sorry, I really am. Something happened when I was surfing.” It’s hard to explain, and Kei wouldn’t approve of anything that wasn’t facts. He turns however, and Akiteru isn’t sure if he should explain or not. 

“I think I… I think I was in serious danger under the water. Someone must have got me out and… collected my things.”

“Yeah, someone did. A girl called me back. Told me where you were. She also helped me get you in the car… She said she found you like that, heard your phone, and called me back after.” This Kei now, a little brother who is taller than him, awaits answers. Akiteru wants to speak, but when he searches his memory, all he hears is a song. As if a hand closes around his and tugs at it, hands that push onto his shoulder blades. Lips touching the nape of his neck—

“Ahh!” Akiteru jumps. Behind him there’s nothing. The streets are mostly empty, and the only music comes from the beach, a 7 minute car ride away. When he looks back at Kei, he’s greeted by a raised eyebrow.

“T-the breeze! Let’s go inside… I’ll apologize to mom and… explain to your later?”

“Tomorrow, before breakfast. If you don’t mind. Worrying about a missing family member makes me tired.” Kei says the last thing more towards the stars. He turns to their vacation home and enters first. Probably calling their parents, announcing that Akiteru is safe. Akiteru can’t hear it as he follows. Kei is gone from the entrance to the house, probably already in his room.

Akiteru doesn’t see him as he takes off his shoe at the door. His mother comes rushing forward, hugging him tight. 

“I was sooo worried! Akiteru, what happened!?” She ushers him in towards the kitchen, making him eat a plate of dinner leftovers. Around him the party decorations for his mother’s birthday are up. 

“Mom, I’m really sorry. A wave—I was underwater and I think I passed out. But I’m fine now!” He adds quickly, as his mother’s face becomes a shocked state, to ask more questions. He calms her down, hugs his father who comes in. It takes some time to make up a lie, hiding the strange happenings of this afternoon. Through the glass-door of the fridge, he can see the box for the cake they bought this morning. 

“I am sorry to have missed your special surprise mom…”

“Don’t even!” She waves his concerns away. “It just means we have cake for breakfast tomorrow, it’s fine. I was so worried! We’re happy you’re safe, Aki.”

Up in his room, Akiteru puts his bag aside. He leans against the closed door, not flicking on the light just yet. He takes deep breaths, inviting calm in, dispelling anxiety. His knees feel weak. Not needing the light, he undresses and finds his way to his bed, falling into it. Falling asleep has been always easy for Akiteru. He had set routines for himself in high school, kept to them through his university years as well. He doesn’t do a single one of his habits, his eyes already shutting close.

~

~

The next morning, Akiteru’s mother makes real on her promise. When he heads to the kitchen, he finds the cake out on the table, his mother cutting even slices. His father has gone out, the shoes missing at the entrance. As usual when it involves cake, Kei is not far off. Greeted by his family (one cheerful ‘Good morning!’ one sleepy’ Hello’), Akiteru steps forward, then taking a seat besides his little brother.

Given that his mother made small slices, Kei’s piece is gone immediately. Akiteru and their mother take a slower approach. After the return of their father, who brought in something called ‘bagels’, the family discusses today’s activities. They all tried to at least find one thing a day on their vacation that everyone could enjoy together. Akiteru has been looking forward to a couple things involving Kei, which didn’t necessarily involve the beach. As no one asks him about yesterday evening, Akiteru too puts the whole affair aside. 

After discussion of what plans will be arranged at what time, the Tsukishima family splits up; parents and brothers have different morning and evening plans, while their lunch and afternoon activity will align to be together. 

Going to his room, Akiteru is about to get dressed for the day and find a local map he bought upon arrival. He and Kei would take a boat excursion to nearby islands. Akiteru wants to take pictures, and Kei wanted to study the marine and wildlife. That was the plan, at least. When Akiteru walks over to a small desk in the room to retrieve the map, he finds a bunch of pebbles and sea-shells on the floor. 

Blinking, Akiteru crouches down; they’re all grey and beige in colour. The most intriguing thing isn’t even how they got here, or how he hadn’t seen them before. What’s gnawing at Akiteru is how they depict a circle, and within the circle, and arrow. Standing in front of his window, Akiteru opens it and peers outside. A fresh morning breeze carries the scent of the sea towards him, which lies directly in front of him past some palm trees and other private vacation houses. The harbour is close as well, not yet so loud.

Looking back at the arrow, it doesn’t point directly towards the window or the most direct route of the sea. Akiteru picks up a map, studies where their vacation home is located, and what way the arrow may point. Curiously, he puts the map on his desk, and draws one straight line towards the sea. A crude seashell drawing, accompanied by three question marks.

Way further out at sea appears to be just water. All the islands nearby are towards the east, while the arrow and his line point towards north-west. He scratches behind his ear, thinking of the song he heard yesterday. A dream, a memory... 

“Are you ready?” Kei asks from the bedroom door. He holds a backpack in his hand, and a yellow plastic box. “Mom gave us more cake for on the way.”

“Oh, that’s kind of her. Yes I am ready… Say, Kei, did you do this?” Akiteru asks, folding the map. Kei arches an eyebrow at him. He comes forward to where Akiteru is standing and pointing down.

“Uh… What exactly do you mean?” Kei asks, as if he doesn’t notice the odd formation between their feet. Kei looks up to Akiteru, one confused eyebrow arching again. “The floor—what of it? I haven’t been in this room after you didn’t pick up the phone, you know.”

Akiteru blinks. “The eh, pebbles and seashells? They’re right here. No one else was in here?”

Kei looks down without his neck bending, his eyes searching the floor. “Are you sure you’re okay? There’s nothing on the floor. Maybe get your eyes checked. I will wait outside, okay.” Kei leaves before Akiteru can sputter. He’s out of the door as Akiteru calls after him, saying he’ll come soon. When he looks down to pick up a seashell, the circle and the arrow are gone.

~

~

The islands are beautiful. The flora alone fills Akiteru’s camera up to half. He has a couple of shots of Kei too, of both of them together. Kei always dislikes being put on camera, but values the images as soon as he tells Tadashi about the family trip. Akiteru hopes that their families could go on vacation before the two high school kids go off to university. After that, they might just want to hang out together and go to places without their relatives.

Currently, the brothers have split. Within eyesight and talking distance, Kei has gone up this side of a small mountain. Akiteru strolls the beachside, taking wide shots. When he’s satisfied of having a picture of Kei in the wilderness, he turns around to take a few pictures of the sea. 

He checks the map again. The island they’re currently on is not to far from their place. Akiteru takes pictures of it too. Then he looks to his right, towards a point west of him. Holding the camera, he feels the odd pull forward. He takes a look at Kei, up a pathway. Kei seems to study the plantlife. Taking a deep breath, Akiteru walks over the beach, towards the western point. He passes their excursion boat; the rest of the visitors were taking a tour around the island, counter-clockwise. Akiteru and Kei wanted to stay on the lower side of this particular part.

When Akiteru thinks he shouldn’t just leave his little brother behind like this, he makes an abrupt turn. And his head becomes dizzy.

Right in front of him is a circle and an arrow. This time it's mostly seashells. The arrowpoint is a crab, with its back turned to Akiteru. It’s claws are pointed like the sides of an arrow, and the creature holds perfectly still. Akiteru moves towards it, around the seashell circle. He crouches down, taking a picture without flash. The crab doesn’t seem to mind. Having no clue what is going on, Akiteru waves his hand in front of the crab, well away from its hefty-looking claws. No movement. He then touches one claw with his finger. Nothing happens.

“What the hell.” His delayed and whispered reaction doesn’t alert the crab either. Akiteru takes another picture.

Then he takes out his map. Their excursion leader gave them a smaller one, including more detailed and enlarged images of the island. Akiteru folds it so that only the current island and everything westward is visible. With a sturdy surface, he pinpoints where he and the new seashell-crab formation are. He draws a straight line, the best he can manage. Then he draws out his first line out longer, into the sea. X marks the spot. 

Looking up from the map, both the seashells and crab have disappeared.

“Are you alright son? The sun isn’t up that high for you to feel dizzy already!” Their excursion leader says. He’s apart from the group, who goes on the boat. From Akiteru’s right, Kei comes down the path. He sees Akiteru crouching, and helps his older brother up. Akiteru doesn’t know what to say, so he just laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

When he and Kei walk to the boat, Akiteru keeps looking towards the water in the west. And wonders if he should rent a boat himself to check it out. 

For now, he wants to focus on his morning excursion with Kei. They have a hike coming up.

~

~

At 11 a.m. they reach the last island on the excursion. This small is closest connected to the mainland, and the captain of their boat says that with the winds and tide, they’re always fast on the route back. Kei doesn’t worry much about being back before 1 p.m. for the agreed lunch with their parents. He has eaten his cake already, and keeps reminding Akiteru that his piece is still in the box.

“Would it be safer if I just took it from you?” Akiteru laughs, the odd circles and arrows faintly on his mind. No more had appeared, and he tries to keep close with the group or his little brother. Kei thinks about handing the box over, and does so. 

The last island is less interesting for each of them. They look around the souvenir shop, finding the same kind of handmade items as around their little village. Kei finds a bracelet in the colours their mother likes best, and so the two of them agree on buying it for her. Kei puts the paperbag in his backpack.

Akiteru looks around, his eyes drawing to blackened pearls and orange patterned veins running across them. He picks up a necklace; alike to the bracelet, it has beads, connecting on a string. At the end of one is a small black feather. It’s not exactly Akiteru’s style. Yet he gets out his wallet and pays for it, stuffing it the paperbag between the cake and the maps. 

Blinking, he looks at his purchase. Akiteru shakes his head, and with it, the strange song he heard in his head as he bought the necklace. 

~

~

In the evening, Akiteru excuses himself. Without telling his family where he goes, and only letting them know he might return late and won’t require dinner, he walks towards the local town again. What he wants is easily found, his needs easily met. Remaining calm through the motions of purchasing dinner and refreshments, Akiteru walks to the harbour, and locates the small fisher boat he borrows for the evening. 

Around him is soft lighting, cheerful sounds, people meeting and being together. He feels bad for leaving his family, even if it is just for a few hours. Agreeing to everyone sometimes needing alone time during this vacation was one thing. Actually taking it is another. The song in his head remains, however, and with the map in hand, he is able to guide the motorized fisherboat to where weird formations of pebbles and seashells tell him to go. 

After a while, the small island comes into view. Akiteru’s head swivels around, and there’s sea all around him. He wonders if this is where he had been before, or if that place had been a dream, a nightmare.

When he looks back to the island, his heart drops. Because the island has become a backdrop. 

With two hands on the bow, a woman appears to lift herself up. Her arms are rigid, the rest of her body unmoving. Akiteru freezes, taking in the blond hair, the glowing eyes. There are earrings glistening in the night, but below them are gills. Where most of her body is bare, only her chest is covered in what looks like rough bandages. They might have been white once, but they look a muted grey. 

When she smiles, sharp teeth appear. Before fear can take over Akiteru, he tries to move. Her legs slap over the starboard, a milky, see-through hue covering them, like a membrane. Light grey, with golden specks in them. There one blink, gone the next, as human-like legs with anomalies spread apart. Akiteru knows his mouth is open, his heart picking up a faster pace. Panic rises in his throat. The knees are unlike the knees he’s known, they appear sharper and discoloured. Small fins are beside them, too.

When hands come to cover both sides of his face, he feels the milky membrane there too.

The teeth smile once more, and then the female creature sings a song, making Akiteru drowsy. He feels himself falling into an icy cold embrace.

~

~

~

### Part 2

The changes from one side of the landmass where humans dwell, over the northern top, and around it, doesn’t bear much difference. Emerging on the other side holds different shapes and scenery, in mostly the same colours. Saeko doesn’t smell a difference. It’s not noticeable in the variety of fish that swim here, nor in the numbers around. Most of them make quick haste when they notice Saeko. Normally, she would feel a little hungry from the distance she left behind.

One thing has driven her here, one thing that calls her. One thing she couldn’t shake from her mind. And hunger for small fish is the last thing on Saeko’s mind. She swims forward only, breaking through the sea surface to align her orientation from guesswork in the water to knowing which way to go. Her legs nearly glued together, she drives them hard, up and down. Like the dolphins taught her.

As a creature of songs, it is unusual to hear a tune like the one that has entered between her ribcage. A call from what could be a mate. But a song unlike any that a siren would sing.

~

~

It wasn’t in Saeko’s nature to help. Floating deep under the heavy waves, her leg spins, propelling her forward in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t completely against her nature, she argues, as she dives in at high speed. Her arms reach out, capturing the squishy human in her arms. Swimming up, Saeko knows that he was the reason she swam all the way from the other side of the man-owned mainland. 

The waves above are coiling, slamming down. As if enraged that their prey breathes fresh salty air again. Holding her fingers over nose and lips, the human in her arm doesn’t appear to be breathing. Wondering how he isn’t immediately fine as soon as his head is out of the water, the membrane around her legs breaks. She kicks her legs, creating a baby maelstrom below her. For the fish and other sea-creatures close by, it’s not deadly. It would be like facing harsh winds as an airborne animal. But it makes sure no one comes closer, not one thing.

Sniffing the human again, Saeko is certain. She hums a song close to his temple, as she brings him to a safer place. It’s against what she stands for, what she is. Apart from her predator self, Saeko never thought she’d travel the seas and weather the changing waters for a male, no less a human male... 

“You better be worth the time and trouble,” she huffs, seeing an island in the middle of the water. 

The man in her arms appears to be unable to breathe. Unlike her fish-friends who are taken out and then thrown back into the water, the air around him doesn’t seem to help. On the beach-land, Saeko puts him down on his back. She puts her ear to his chest, at different places. Her aunt would know what to do, what to listen for, as she studied humans underwater. Saeko wishes she had listened more to the anatomical teachings, what other species would need to live.

There’s a known sound to her under the skin and bones. Blinking, Saeko lifts her head up, connects her fingers overhead, forming a two-handed large fist. She slams it down to where she hears the sound. Again and again, until the man in front of her spasms, moves, and water drips over lips. She turns around in sudden fright to be seen. Sand scratches her now bare legs, the membrane unable to form so far from her homeland.

Before he wakes up, she sings. From the water, any at all listening creature comes to her aid, as quick as their little bodies would take them. They move over the beach, under the male. She makes her escape, crawling back to the safe sea. Once she’s under the cool waves, able to sink below the surface without trouble, she looks back. Little and large crabs have brought the male further from the rolling little waves. They now march back, sideways and clicking for approval.

From where she bobs up and down, Saeko can see he doesn’t seem to be waking up. Saeko clicks her tongue to herself, somehow disappointed. If he wasn’t strong enough, he wasn’t meant for her. Singing in anger, her furious tones vibrate around her under the surface. Saeko doesn’t curse the gods, as that could be fatal. But she curses the weakness of men, and how they could be so much more, if they were less themselves...

~

~

Finding a rock protruding the sea surface, Saeko swims up and lifts herself onto it. Nothing feels better than sitting on cold and wet stone, while her feet are beneath the water, and the air fills her nose. A protective membrane reforms, light grey in colour with hints of white where her thighs and knees are. The island is distant now. Her song remains, an odd occurrence. She watches as overhead of the island, the wind seems to have stopped blowing. Curiosity pulls at her, making Saeko’s head tilt to one side, then another. Expectancy and want runs over her back, bringing an odd shiver. Looking down to her hands, she sees the webby part between her fingers disappear, becoming completely soft, near-human hands. A transformation she didn’t allow. With a fright, Saeko flings herself off the rock, letting her gills be surrounded by her most natural habitat. 

She holds her legs up, inspecting it. What she sees is an all-white front, framed by grey and golden spots. Touching it slowly, it feels rough to her hand, as a shark’s skin should be. Nothing weird below it. 

Then Saeko’s head tilts back. The male cannot swim back to the mainland. Hissing through sharp teeth, she swims her way back. Saeko doesn’t like to be stealthy, but she also can’t be seen.

A voice she’s known since its birth reaches her at ease, offering help. Saeko hisses, but lets the bearer come closer. 

Ryuunosuke has been on land more often than she, and he would be able to help.

~

~

Deep down in the dark, Saeko’s night vision activates. As soon as she can see, she wishes she couldn’t. Ryuunosuke had found the surfboard and returned it to land, where they left the human. Now his grin shines brighter than the moon, brighter than an underground explosion. Little brothers had no right to look so smug. 

They’re different in physique, but have inherited the distinct eyes and teeth. Where they would usually have golden eyes and black irises, their night-vision reverted those colours. Even sharper were the hooked teeth, the same across their clan—shark-teeth. Where Saeko had short blond hair, Ryuunosuke had gone through multiple hair transformations, leaving him with shaving it off. Where Saeko could resemble a human easily past some minor differences, Ryuunosuke was a merman in full, with various little fins and a large, grey-white tail. By way of greeting, he slams it towards his older sister, playful and rough, as the Tanaka clan of sharks, sirens and mer-folk would have them be.

Saeko distinctly told him to stay home. She didn’t need her clan here, not even her closest blood-kin. Ryuunosuke was free to swim wherever he pleases. And so was she; there was no need to be looked after by her baby brother, and Saeko tells Ryuunosuke as such. When she’s greeted by silence and smirking alone, her annoyance shows harder. 

“Don’t say a word,” she tells him nonetheless, her membrane-bonded legs swishing beneath her. Ryuunosuke looks her up and down, his own night vision activated; a slit of gold within black eyeballs. And just like that, he swims away, without having said a word or reprimanding her for her actions. A rough tail swing was sometimes the only type of reprimand or affection Ryuunosuke would show even to his closest bonds.

Blowing bubbles, her gills flapping open, Saeko shakes her head.

Swimming up to the surface she’s facing a perfect half moon. Saeko deactivates her night vision, to let the more gentle and dark surroundings fill her with tranquility. She lets the presence of the moon, so bright yet muted from their full power, replenish her with strength and wisdom. Taking in the position to the stars, her legs below swish in a spiral. Swimming like the dolphins taught her, she makes her way towards land, towards where the song inside her heart leads her to. The stars she didn’t need after all, when this longing consumes her.

~

~

She didn’t curse the gods. But the gods had still heard her murmur of dissent and dissatisfaction. Saeko keeps close to the boats, but all this machinery makes even her knowing heart blind. Frustrated, she calls out to the creatures around her, the living things that own the sea. Communication with the airborne is futile, not because of a tiny language barrier, but because the seagulls listen to no requests nor commands. Threats are mere threats without consequences.

Saeko dodges one relieving itself above her head, making a disgusted sound underwater. 

The crabs return to her first, and she greets them with gentle finger strokes over their shells. They report back by clicking their claws, a sign language mixing with a cryptographic code of noise in differentiating lengths and speeds. Listening with care, Saeko thanks the crabs one by one. 

She had gone the long way around the tiny island in the sea, knocking the male man unconscious before being able to bring him back from hence he might have come. Ryuunosuke, for all his nosiness and faults, had located parts of the man’s smell on land.

First a kin-by-blood, like their own sibling smell could be distinctive to others. Then items that belonged to the man Saeko held tight in her arms, his head above water. And she’s followed the scent for as long as she could. It was hard to find at times, but once other familiar scents like the man’s reached her, she knew where to send the crabs come morning. The crabs, the critters, the chameleon slugs who can appear and reappear, and hide whatever they want to hide below their slimy bodies. Accompanied by a small group of flying shrimp that usually didn’t come close to the surface without having to. When a shark calls, they all come. And Saeko, like the animal kin, held her promises to the smaller creatures. 

Saeko sniffed the air again. She would stay close to the harbour, hiding deep below once the sun would fully come up and more people would gather here.

The song in her heart was stronger than ever. And she hummed the tune ever so carefully.

~

~

It’s unlike Saeko in every way. She doesn’t stalk prey; she sings and they come willingly. Either to the water where she can attack them, or fully to the sea-floor, where they drown. Without the intention to kill, Saeko is left to swim and observe. Waiting for the proper moment, she has her little army of sea creatures ready to bring the human male a sign. Saeko thinks she’s heard the name… It is either Tsuki-something, or Aki-something. She believes ‘Aki’ and ‘brother’ are her best guesses, and so she watches ‘Aki’ walk towards where Saeko first sung to him.

It’s then where she commands her little army onto the beach, hauling seashells and a couple of pebbles. Closing her eyes, Saeko transfers her will over to one of the crabs. The most docile one places itself at the top of the creation, a circle bearing an arrow point. In her mind, which is now within the crab’s, she can see Aki clicking on a human-construct. He crouches and waves, touches the crab. Saeko keeps the creature sweet and still. When he takes out other utensils, the slugs become visible as they take the shells. The flying shrimp are fastest with the pebbles and larger shells. The crab, Saeko commands him to bury below the sand, as low as it can.

When the other humans return and move from the spot, Saeko releases the crab’s mind, telling it it's safe to come back to the tide. All the creatures will bear a scent of immunity from other predators, and Saeko leaves them behind, following the humans and their little boat.

Following her Aki and his faster beating heart.

~

~

She finds a rock out in the sea, close to where the humans landed their boat. It’s anchor was on the shallow, but the water’s visibility would have betrayed Saeko’s location. Out on the rock, she thinks of him. The black undersea huts, the orange coral decorations. Black feathers they took from the airborne that ventured too close. Swiping at crows was hers and Ryuunosuke’s favourite past time. The sharks never killed nor ate a crow, as they saw them as black omens. Therefore, the merfolk merely played with the crowing little things, and took their feathers for accessories. 

Saeko touches her naked collarbone. A lot of mates made their significant others necklaces and other adorations. Saeko had scoffed at any such try, and rejected them all. As if her heart knew that the loneliness it bore wouldn’t be satisfied by any creature under the sea. The song hasn’t been there yet, just a simple hum of the deep telling her to not sway for simple things. To wait and see, for the storms to come and sweep her away. 

Closing her eyes, she lifts her chin, opens her lips, and sings the song of her heart. A song unlike her siren-cousins would sing, unlike the hiss of her shark cousins. Unlike the sweeter tunes her brother would sing, if the mood strikes him just right. 

This song was hers alone. 

And Aki’s, too.

The song changes, too. It adds and adds, like a story unfolding. A story still mostly unwritten, following the happenings, or showing where the path could lead. She sees it now, too. The island again, them together. Saeko needs to test him further, see if he is fit to be more than just an easy prey. The gods tend to be calm on the matter now, not interfering any more.

Saeko opens her eyes, and sees the evening has come. The boat has gone. 

Yet the scent lingers, close and closer still. A grin appears on her face, and she sings the last addition to her song, the last moment before the finale of it’s completion. It’s close, Saeko feels.

And Aki is close, too.

~

~

Saeko meets him halfway. She’s left the rock when Aki’s scent went back to the small island she found for him to recover on. The song in her heart is a raging storm, a fury of lust. Fire runs down her stomach, and she cannot help but keep her smile on her face. Saeko has been a daughter of patience, but that has run on low ground. When she sees the fisherboat halt, she won’t allow Aki to turn tail. 

Without fear, she comes directly in his sight. It’s easy to lift her lithe but strong body up the side of the boat, to swing herself completely onto it. Like her little brother, tough love is shown by swinging her legs against Aki’s when she brings them up and over. Aki seems faint, his skin paler than before. The moon shines over them, giving blessings to the reunion. When Aki becomes fainter still, Saeko puts her webby, membraned hands over Aki’s face.

She catches him too, laughing at the faint heart, and founding it worthy of her love and protection.

But he is a man first and her true love second. She’s too much for him, just yet. As he Aki loses consciousness, Saeko catches him and drags him to sea, then to shore. Making sure he’s breathing, she looks up at the stars, praying for strength. When it comes, Saeko can barely put her own weight on her knees to sit up more. She knows the high and low tides, the ever-changing and non-compromising seas. Lifting up Aki, she makes her way over the sand, one knee in front of the other as the membrane breaks. It’s hard work and the cooling air is of little help. 

Saeko sees the fisherboat in her mind, and through a hundred eyes. A couple of them she calls forth, little creatures that are closest and strongest, to do her bidding and bring the boat to shore. She herself can’t leave, not just yet. It is a crazy thought to leave Aki behind again. It’s much better to stay with him, to hold him close. To watch him sleep, watch him wake. 

For now she lies with him, her ear to his ribs, making sure he’s alright. Saeko will hear him come to, soon enough.

~

~

~

### Part 3

Sand greets his back, and nails run over his temple. Pushing away hair, as water drops down on his skin. Akiteru knows within 10 seconds of being conscious that he’s on a beach, and that he’s mostly stripped. The nail he feels is sharp without harming him, a threat that hovers like the other side of a blade. Akiteru doesn’t dare to open his eyes, because that would mean seeing the impossible made real, the nightmares hunting his life. Worse things than strange, disappearing signs at his feet, or the hum of a song.

The song is ever-present, within his heart. Even as the organ beats fast to pump blood and supply his brain, Akiteru doesn’t understand it. 

The problem is that he can choose to keep his eyes closed, but he can’t shut his ears.

“Your temperrraturrre dropped with the wetttt clooothes. I rrrremoved them forrr you,” the voice greets him close to his head, and Akiteru doesn’t understand this unflinching faith washing over him. As if the voice doesn’t sound like a blade sharpener running over a knife. He dares to open his eyes a smidge. Above Akiteru are golden eyes, thin slits of black irises. Blond hair and toothy grin. A face that looks endearing, sweet almost. The smell of the sea is all around him. He watches the thin black slits widen—dilating pupils means arousal or curiosity—and his heart skips.

A thought reaches him, absurd, not abstract, ludicrous, normal; the arms around him are not of a demon, not of an angel. _A lover’s arms._ He doesn’t need to escape these arms. A question rises in his throat.

“The fisherboat…”

“Ssssafe, within rrrreach.”

“No that’s...not what I meant. Within...on the boat,” he croaks. Akiteru’s throat is dry, taken in by ethereal beauty. A dangerous beauty, but the warning signs don’t go off. There’s nothing alarming or disturbing about that smile. Not to him, at least. Shark-teeth show in all their glory, a scary sight. Akiteru finds no fright in his body. 

Her head turns to look, and he sees earrings between blond hair. Piercings going up and up the pointy ears, a different hue of green and grey as if its water moving under the skin, The arm under his shoulders, the arm lying at leisure above his bare chest; they’re cold but comforting. Sensual and close. He feels his legs spreading without thinking about it, finding it a natural occurrence. 

The beautiful head swivels back. Long black eyelashes blink, before the eyes look down on him again. Two nails run down his temple, over his jaw, tipping his chin. Non-threatening, blunt.

“You have brrrought a giffft, forrrr me..?”

“Y-yes. I do believe it's meant to be yours...wait,” Akiteru tries to sit up, but his body is boneless. It’s shameful, but the woman beside him helps. He looks at her hands, her elbow, her knees. Sharper than a normal woman’s, hued in pink and grey. Little fins adorn the edges. She has one leg draped over his thigh, and it’s then that he notices exactly where one of her knees is. Akiteru takes a deep breath. He finds his body appreciating every physical connection between them. He also finds himself swimming in the most dangerous of waters. Eyes skyward, he hopes to settle his heart and breathing to a more normal rate. A sorry attempt as his skin was on fire. When he looks at her, Akiteru is met with a knowing grin, honey-sweet, teeth less visible.

She removes her leg, and Akiteru finds his bones returned, though his knees remaining weak. He’s able to sit up on his own now, and then stands quickly. He wants to walk to the boat, a wobbly attempt that brings him a few steps forward. The song tugs at his heart, making him turn his head. The female creature stays on the sand, looking forlorn and not part of the sandy beach. Her eyes shine bright, proudful. Akiteru looks at her legs, connecting dots which he doesn’t fully understand.

“Can you walk? Can you stand?”

Shaking her head, she pulls her knees up. There is a thin membrane layer covering each leg and foot.

“Only crrrrawl. In the sssea, at home, I am invincebleee.”

Blinking, Akiteru mimics the shake of the head, then nods in understanding. He returns and crouches beside her, his arms reach under and around. She looks up surprised but not completely aghast, and so Akiteru lifts her into his arms. Her arms wind up around his neck, hands at ease over his shoulder and chest. Akiteru finds his clothes on the way down the night-time beach, not caring to pick them up. 

The fisher boat sits on the wet send, the tide having returned to the sea. Standing before it, finding the creature’s weight pleasant and not heavy, he turns his head to her.

“What are you...and what is your name?” More questions are in his throat and swiveling in his head, but he can’t ask them all at once. Especially when she disarmours him with a tilt of her head, making his head foggy.

“Yourrrr people have sssstorrriesss they don’t believeee. They call me sirrrren, singer of songs, murrrrderrrrerrrr of men. That parrrt isss trrrue. But we diffffer, clan to clan, birrrth to birrrth. My cousinsss arrre birrrd-like. My auntsss arrrre laaarrrge. Dissstant rrrelativesss live deep-down, carrrrrying light-anglers.” The siren says, her speech rough and gasping between longer sentences. Akiteru looks at her with all the patience in the world. 

“I am merrrr-folk, sharrrrrk-kin, ssssea-inhabitant. My name, isss Ssssaekooo,” she says, her forehead close to his chin now. Saeko closes her eyes; Akiteru can feel the lashes flutter close. The fog in his head ignites all at once, burning what he thought he knew. Clearing the way for what he has gone through, and accepting the facts. The dots are now connected by clear lines. And he understands, he says—

“Saeko…”

—the most beautiful name he’s ever heard.

“I’m Akiteru.” Trusting her might be fatal, but he feels his heart beat at ease. There’s no song in his head right now, none around him. It’s all from within. If he’s being poisoned or threatened to be drowned, he’d go down willingly. He’d follow that tune’s wishes into the dark. Until he wouldn’t see or unable to breathe. And Akiteru knows Saeko wouldn’t let him die.

“Not….Aki..?” Saeko asks, looking up. Akiteru laughs. 

“Aki is fine too.” He lays her down where water and beach meet. The membrane sparkles where water touches it. More questions. 

From the boat he gets the necklace, not fully knowing why he bought it. If she compelled him to. Whatever it was, Akiteru knows it's Saeko’s to keep. Just like his body would belong to her. Just like his heart was already being given away. 

Saeko’s eyes are wide. She takes the necklace, holding it between her hands; holds it up like actual treasure. Her eyes squint at the closing mechanism. Holding it up closer to her head, Akiteru can see her disapprove of how it wouldn’t fit over it. Laughing, Akiteru takes it from her fingers, opens it, then reaches closer to put it on. The little waves reach over his knees as he bends down. They lap over his thighs, calling him home. 

As he closes the necklace behind Saeko’s neck and under her hair, webbed fingers reach once more over his face.

Between looking down and opening his mouth, he’s already caught by her kiss. Saeko reaches up to do so, and their lips melt together. As if they’d done this before, as if they were meant to do this. Akiteru’s knees sink into the wet sand, and he feels her bare and edgy knees slide between. He reaches one arm down to hug her close, liking how her hands feel over his chest and shoulders, a feeling he could get used to, easily.

When they kiss, she hums. The song he’s heard and remembers now, the song of what they could be. Akiteru wasn’t one to fall hard nor fast. He falls all the way, back on his ass, with a woman both dangerous and beautiful sliding at ease over him.

The teeth in his neck don’t harm him, not one bit.

~

~

She doesn’t like to see him leave, but of course he has to. Kin and family first, everything that is fun after. Saeko knows, and travels with him, hand on the boat to help steer, to make Akiteru find his way easier and faster. Saeko’s legs are bound by one membrane now, making them go faster where she would like to take it slow. As slow as a near-stand-still and kissing would go. 

Her throat hurts from speaking in his tongue. Saeko hears how it comes out all wrong. 

He asks many questions, and Saeko can feel the eagerness in his tone; Akiteru wants to understand her, know her. As much as possible in as little time. It’s not impatience, just pure curiosity and want. The same thing that brought Saeko to him, after all. He learns about how she swims, the membrane. How it would appear and dissolve on a breath, be created or kept hidden on demand. Saeko is patient as she answers mysteries of the deep; she is equally curious about so many _normal_ things about humans, in return.

The land appears up ahead. Saeko’s legs come under her, as she paddles her feet as one to stay up in the water. Her hand feels the fisherboat dip her way, and Saeko looks up into those warm and information-seeking eyes. Her nature has her reach up, arms first, mouth second. She kisses him, a deep moment without much thought or recklessness added into it. Pulling him down, she watches the boat, making sure it won’t turn. Akiteru holds onto the rim, following her without thinking.

Under the surface, the water smoothes her throat, enables her to speak easier. She explains how she swims, why she can’t walk, where she comes from. After every answer, Akiteru has to go up for breath, a nuisance. Saeko should have bitten him harder. Make him turn. Do one of the rituals her father taught her, to give away the powers of the sea.

After explaining bits of her, Saeko has to ask a question in return.

“Will you rrreturrrrn?” She hates the weakness in her voice, the longing. All Akiteru does is smile, as if the sun shines as bright at night with the silver moon. 

“First thing tomorrow morning. How do you measure time?”

Saeko looks up at the actual moon. “By the tide, by the starrrsss and the moon. By the trraveling fffissh and the humanss coming forrr theirr hunt and the other islandsss. By the rrrrise and the fffall of the ssssun.” Saeko watches him contemplate all these things, his hand on hers on top of the boat’s side.

“Sun up. I will be at the beach where the people don’t come, that way,” Akiteru says and points, his eyes distant. Saeko follows after a beat. It will be tough to wait so long, when Akiteru is right here. When she can take him under and keep him forever. But her little brother had caught the scent better than she did; a family was waiting, a smaller brother just like hers. She couldn’t keep them apart, not right away. Her selfish needs had to wait, Saeko’s least favourite activity.

Akiteru kisses her forehead as a goodbye, and she feels the burn of it long after he’s out of sight, Long after she sunk back into the deeps. Unable to touch it, unable to smear it, even as the sea swipes past and over. 

~

~

The song was meant to kill, to maim or injure. To drown the weak-willed, the stupid, the horny. The easy prey. Akiteru was all soft and hard flesh below Saeko, pliable and sweet, strong and gentle. The song she used to sing to feed is now used to convey emotions, knowledge. She couldn’t possibly greet him any other way then flinging herself from the ocean into his open arms, as he kept his promise and didn’t make her wait too long. He was here before the first rays of light reached over this part of the sea and the sand.

She heard her name on his lips before they crashed down in laughs.

~

~

It’s his first meal of the day, all this knowledge. The sun slowly creeping over the horizon. Akiteru has dreamed of her body, her kisses. Of her everything. Hot fever dreams, which he lays bare and open. The kiss reveals everything and hides nothing.

Akiteru is shameless, too. He hears Saeko’s hungry hums down his throat.

The acceptance of lore and strange stories, of truth and every situation. They exchange all this without speaking, as Saeko’s nails dig a little deeper into his shoulder and the nape of his neck. She asked first, explaining how connecting like this would make it easier for both of them. To reach a higher point together, much faster. Akiteru had blushed deeply, thinking she meant something else. Saeko shows what she meant by baby steps, and soon they were lying on the beach as water splashes at their feet and calves. Saeko described the easy tool, and how talking the strange common tongue of this hurts her throat if she used it for too long.

The pain was nothing bad. Everything good. There was more to this, Akiteru knows. Saeko wouldn’t hurt him, and that he believes without the nails in his skin. Digging in once and deep, tearing flesh to get to blood. Sink and stay. Sync and play.

Akiteru feels her legs reach on either side of his body, and he’s aflame in this early morning light.

~

~

The air in and out her gills wasn’t bad, but if they had to keep flapping open and close every time she said a word, she might get sick. Kissing was different. Saeko could kiss Akiteru and enable him to stay underwater for long. The same was true on land. And while talking hurt, she hadn’t minded to keep doing it. If Saeko’s time wouldn’t be better spent kissing her human mate. Biting his neck was part of the rough play she preferred. She feels Akiteru stir below her, as hungry as she is, more conservative with showing how much or throwing her around. Akiteru’s hunger was the lowest hum, a full-body vibration that Saeko feels from her neck down her spine, from her heart to her lower regions. It makes her hands tingle as her nails stay where they are, drawing blood. Her toes curl when she feels his want. 

Saeko had never believed it would be this easy to fall in love. Her song led her straight into Akiteru’s arms, and they weren’t as feeble as she believed human’s limbs to be. There wasn’t as much restraint as there was the liking of prolonging, of exploring, of taking it slow. Saeko likes to be fast, but this pace matches the tune in her heart, and so she follows the course.

When their mouths part for a bit longer than just a quick breath of air, Saeko looks down and understands part of what love could be, what it would offer to her. She retracts her nails, then kisses the small streams of blood. Her tongue laps over the wounds, healing them. Akiteru stays still beneath her, his smile audible and happy. When she healed what she broke, Saeko puts her arms over his chest and her chin on top. A bit of the shared heat dissipates, to hover further away, always ready to strike again.

“God, you’re so beautiful… To think that I thought you wanted to kill me at first,” Akiteru says, and he recalls the strange occurrence to his legs the first time he was on this island. The near-drowning, which wasn’t Saeko’s fault at all, but the Fate’s playing a game intending the two would-be lovers to meet easier. He asks about the appearing and disappearing signs, explaining the pebbles and seashells and crab when Saeko doesn’t understand at first.

Saeko explain it all using rough words. The legs take her a bit longer. 

Lifting herself up, her necklace leaving Akiteru’s chest, she moves back into the water. He follows her into the water, not needing the song to be mesmerized. Saeko doesn’t need much help this close to the sea, with the high tide in her favour. Akiteru sits on his behind, crossing his legs in a weird way. Saeko prods at his knee, making Akiteru chuckle. Sitting beside him, her legs neatly together, Saeko sinks into his arm as he reaches his arm over her shoulder. He doesn’t rush her answer as they watch the sea colour in different hues.

Saeko tells him about the gods, the ones that rule the skies, the seas, and the deepest abyss further below. She understands her part of wishing for a stronger counterpart as she finds an explanation for what happened to Akiteru’s legs that one warm day on the lone island. The gods would have granted her wish of changing the human. But the methods, the challenges…

“I dooo apolooogizeee. I didn’t intend to dooo thattt,” Saeko says, glad she hadn’t cursed louder or longer. Akiteru is easy in forgiving. His lips find her forehead, a different spot than yesterday. The warmth has the same intensity. His mouth hovers close, and Saeko senses he has something to say. 

Then he reveals a sadder truth than what she explained.

“I...don’t live here, Saeko. My home is inland. We’re just here for vacation.”

Saeko tilts her head, understanding a few things, but not the last. “Vacatttioon?”

She’s seen his homes, his rooms. Places he unwound and was more himself than with people around. Saeko figured he had multiple safe places, like her. For family, for friends, for himself. Whatever the word ‘vacation’ means, it has a short-termed ring to it. Like going to one place to hunt, but only once a year...

“It means that I won’t be close to the sea, to this sea, for very long. Soon, my family and I… we will return to our home. It’s far from the sea,” Akiteru says, his voice full of sadness. She hears how he doesn’t want to leave, doesn’t want to be apart from her. They’d just met. They needed more time…

Akiteru was a creature from the land, and she from the sea. Of course it wouldn’t be as easy as leaving seashells and pebble trails, of commanding crabs and finding unclaimed islands or peninsulas. As easy as their mouths fit to another, the rest was all the harder to make work. Saeko’s head drops, her shoulders sag. She feels the sadness of the rain when it falls from the skies, the anger of thunder and lightning. A storm in her head threatens to take over. 

A warm palm flattens over her hair. She looks up with determined eyes. 

“How looong?”

His eyes do not waver. “Three more sunrises and sundowns. We’re leaving on the final sunset.”

Nodding, Saeko’s hand trails over his chest. “No time to wassste. Hooold onnn.”

It’s the only warning he gets. When she has his hand in hers, Saeko drags them to the sea, they fall and laugh, hushed on the empty and silent beach. Akiteru does more of the lifting and moving forward, his lower body more apt on the sandy grounds below. As soon as they’re further out, as soon as Akiteru can stand and Saeko can swim, she turns her back to the sun and her face to his.

“You arrre mineee,” she says without doubt, without question. His eyes stay warm, a fire raging in the space between them. He nods, a single gesture of consent. Saeko holds on to his elbows as she lifts herself up to him. With the kiss she calls him down to the undeep, and she feels unending trust soar through her. One arm on his neck, she pulls some more, until the water hides them both. Mouths connecting, unbreaking, she swims them to a different shore.

Hers. Akiteru is hers alone. She will mark him as such, have him before the last sunrise approaches.

~

~

Akiteru says he’s ready when truly, nothing could prepare him for this. In a change of pace, and giving half her control over to him, Saeko’s face goes through a couple emotions, ranging from the remains of her feistiness to a whole different view. Akiteru hasn’t seen so much of her, and still understands that this is...new to her too. From where they stay in the water, to Akiteru lifting her legs up and hooking them around himself at the waist, to the slowest kiss they’ve exchanged yet. Akiteru has taken the afternoon off from his family vacation to spend time in the midday sun. To be with Saeko. To unite in a way he hadn’t wanted to with a girl before. As they kiss, Akiteru feels Saeko rub herself over his hardness. He holds her tight, hands mostly under her butt. Without guiding her too much, Saeko makes sure to let him know when he can enter.

It’s hot and cold all at once. Akiteru feels a full body shudder, starting at his shoulders. 

“Ahh, Aki,” Saeko squirms in his arms, her blush a deep red hue on her cheeks. Akiteru smiles down, sure that he is blushing just as hard if not more. Her legs are strong under water, but not crushingly so. Everything is easier here, too, when Saeko is in her natural element. 

Sex on the beach seems overhyped. Akiteru is sure that this, here, in the sea, with Saeko, is how it’s meant to be.

~

~

They end up on the beach, because Saeko likes to be spoiled. Akiteru has proven himself masterful at pleasing her in ways she didn’t think any of the merfolk in the other parts of the sea could have done. Satisfaction fills her from top to bottom; near the same kind she’d have after a good meal. Sex with Akiteru was definitely a hundred times better. She allowed him to get them out of the sea and onto the beach. For Akiteru to lay her down and hover over her. And satisfy her in any way he could.

Blissful they now sit on the beach, Saeko within Akiteru’s lap. Sideways, just like the way he carries her. They watch the seas, a new sense of togetherness taking the place were longing ruled before.

“I will figure something out...I will find my way back here again. Back to you. I—I don’t know what this is yet, but I know it’s meant to be. Will you wait for me?” Akiteru looks down on her, his face open for rejection. At sea, only the strong could take what they wanted. No one asked, much less permission, forgiveness, or pity. None of that was in Akiteru’s face. Only wish, and want.

Saeko takes her time, to understand human time compared to hers. It wasn’t much of a difference, which meant that every day apart would be long and lonely. Swimming here had taken long. A journey that hadn’t been that much of a bother because Saeko’s heart told her that exciting somethings were waiting on the other side. Someones. Just one person, in fact.

“How many sundownsss will it take, Akitttteru?” Saeko asks, comforted by the warm hands over her ears and face. The sad smile she sees is so sweet that she wants to kiss him again. She hadn’t known what would happen after she found him. Everything was open to her.

“Many…”

Saeko looks to the sea, listens to the wave. It would be worth it. 

“How..?”

“I will find a way, Saeko. I promise I will find a way.”

~

~

It was slightly unusual, but his parents didn’t question the mid-year change that Akiteru undertook. They suspected a girl, but didn’t ask. 

Kei had a weird look in his eye too, but keeps whatever was on his mind to himself. 

Akiteru makes the changes, although they’re not easy. His university doesn’t offer the courses he needs, so he changes. He finds a local university closer to the sea, a way to learn of marine life and sustainable living. In his free time he learns how to build things, how to live without a house. Akiteru visits the sea as often as he can, because he too couldn’t let to many days go by without meeting Saeko. Their storm-started love calms as they spend time together. The first kiss was raging lust for the unknown and the uncommon. Every kiss after was sweet and restrained. The promise of more was always on the horizon. Saeko sings, new tunes of what’s to come.

And in that future, they live together. Halfway on sandy beaches, halfway in the sea. And between, wooden constructs with easy access to the sea. Saeko hums what Akiteru explains to her, and she tells him that they both pray at the altar of patience, for greater rewards to come. 

It takes many sundowns. But the one that ends in Akiteru’s arms, and his promises of their home reaching from the beach into the water remains a true one.


End file.
